Melanie Kaderabek

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Practice Lesson Plan


TITLE OF THE PLAN: Matter matters!
GRADE LEVEL: 8th Grade
SUBJECT AREA: Science
CONCEPT/SKILL: Different types of matter
TARGET AUDIENCE: Regular Class
TIME FRAME: 45 Minutes
  1. I. PREPARING TO TEACH:

  1. A. GOALS:
    1. a. MS-PS1-4: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed
    2. b. RST.6-8.7: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table)
    3. c. MS-PS1-6: Undertake a design project to construct, test and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes

  1. B. OBJECTIVE(S): Students will be able to identify the three types of matter (solid, liquid, gas) and what matter is made up of (atoms and molecules/particles) by conducting a series of experiments.

  1. C. PURPOSE: By understanding what matter is and what it is made of, students will be able to identify that all things in the world are composed of matter. This will be an introduction to Chemistry and the Conservation of Mass Law- Matter cannot be created or destroyed, just transferred around.

  1. D. MATERIALS: Beakers of water, water droplets, ice cubes, hot pan, food coloring, white paper, pennies, projector and screen, paperwork created by me (See attachments).

  1. E. RESOURCES: The penny portion of the lesson is from my own previous experience in a Chemistry
classroom at Downers Grove South High School. Middleschoolchemistry.com provided background knowledge and the idea of the food coloring experiment. The video being showed is from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33WdI64FiY Notes will be taken off of this video.

  1. II. INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES:

  1. A. FOCUSING ACTIVITY: Ask the class what is matter? Have them write down what they predict matter is. After that I will ask what is an atom and what is a molecule. This will be to help guide their thinking if they have no previous knowledge of what matter is. We will then write on the white board describing words the students come up with for matter, atoms and molecules.

  1. B. PURPOSE: By the end of today you will be able too…

  1. a. List the three types of matter
  2. b. Explain what an atom, molecule or particle is
  3. c. Understand the movement of particles in the three stages of matter
  4. d. Learn the Law of Conservation of Mass and how it looks in real life

  1. C. INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESS:
    1. a. Start by completing the focusing activity to get their minds focused on matter and physical composition.
    2. b. After 2 or so minutes of silent reflection, we will then write key words the students come up with for matter, atoms, molecules on the board. (0-5 minutes)
i. If kids disagree with words placed on the boards, we will have a debate and explain why they think the way we do.
  1. c. I then will clarify that atoms and molecules work together and can be called particles. (5-6 Minutes)
  2. d. The video explaining the three states of matter will be shown and students will follow along with their note sheet (6-10 minutes)
i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33WdI64FiY
ii. See attachment
  1. e. After the video, we will go though the sheet to make sure everyone has the correct answers (10-12 minutes)
  2. f. I will then model an experiment about particles using the ice cubes to demonstrate that regardless if it a solid, liquid or gas; H2O is still H2O. (12-22 minutes).
i. See modeling for further instructions.
  1. g. After modeling, we will be discussing particle movement. The students will then get to understand that the kinetic energy of the particles in an object determine it’s physical state. (22-40 minutes)
i. See guided practice.
  1. h. As a class, we will regroup to see what everyone’s findings were in both of their experiments and see if they can explain WHY the things happened the way they did. (40-45 minutes)

D. MODELING:
  • I will show students an ice cube and ask them what it is, making sure they know it’s chemical name, H2O. The ice will be demonstrating the solid for of H2O.
  • I then will put the ice cubes in a beaker on a hot plate and the students will observe the H2O transform from a solid to a liquid.
  • After the H2O is completely melted, I will make sure to have them see the vapor being created by the water. That is the gas form of H2O.

  1. E. CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING: I will be providing my students a notes sheet for them to fill in answers as well as collecting the labs to ensure they understood the experiment’s purpose.

  1. F. TASK/GUIDED PRACTICE: Guided practice will begin with students will break into groups and get one beaker of water and one drop of food coloring. Their job is to watch the color disperse itself in the entire beaker, without mixing it. While they are timing themselves with experiment A, experiment B will begin where each student will get a penny and a water dropper. They must see how many droplets of water fit onto a penny. They should notice the water forming a bubble like shape over the penny to show that there is still energy keeping the water particles together.


  1. D. ACCOMMODATIONS/ADAPTATIONS: By utilizing audio, visual and kinesthetic methods of teaching, most learners should be able to catch on to the ideas behind the lesson. Lab groups will be predetermined by myself, where students at different levels will be mixed together in the same group. This will be beneficial for our students that have a difficult time grasping the concept as well as our exceptional learners. The students struggling won’t be embarrassed to ask for help in heir small lab group setting and by having the exceptional students explain different ideas to them, they are learning it over again themselves. Of course I will be there for all questions students may have.

  1. E. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: N/A (Start of unit)


  1. III. CLOSURE: Students will discuss their findings during their experiments and we will have a class discussion explaining why different states of physical composition have various kinetic energies.
    1. a. Key points:
i. No matter what physical state it is in, a substance is still a substance
ii. Name the three types of matter
iii. Understand how molecule movement effects physical composition

  1. IV. ASSESSMENT

  1. A. Student Assessment: As a pop quiz/brain teaser in the morning the next day, students will need to answer the given questions. We will then go through the answers as a class together to make sure they understand the correct answers.
    1. a. See attached quiz